[CLOSED] Moonchaser

[Janeiro]

Janeiro wanted to do something. Well, she had to! But she was just baffled and paralyzed by the giant's behaviour. She was just as upset about him as about her own inability to say something, but nothing came to her mind that could possibly make him apologize and respect her more. She clenched her fist, driving her nails into her palm painfully. Finally Inugami distracted her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to get rid of all prior emotions and restart with a blank state of mind.
"That's good. Maybe the company will still hire you when you get out, although in that business you probably shouldn't count on it. And to be honest... no, that title doesn't fit me anymore. If I had studied more I could have done it, but I have become lazy and undisciplined." It hurt a little to say it, but she wanted to tell the truth. Chances were it not matter in the future, but the thought of Janeiro dying at a time at which her parents couldn't be proud of her stinged deeply.
She allowed herself to sigh. "I will go to bed. Let's finish this quest," she said to both of them, switched into her pajamas and laid down on her side with her back towards them. She was tired, but couldn't sleep. There were two men in the room, and no other woman, which kept her alert for longer than she wanted, but she forced herself to stay still and ignore all of her worries. She had to sleep and there was no better alternative right now. Just when she thought she could do it, she noticed she had been in the same position for too long and rolled to the other side, still keeping her eyes closed. It was better, and finally she fell asleep.

[SouthernCross]

The silence of the night was an almost nostalgic feeling, making the older man recall the days of his youth when he was a boy scout. He smiled fondly as he recalled the adventures, misadventures and trials he had faced camping out in the Australian wilderness at all times of years. Even as he reminisced his eyes remained sharp, watching the forest beyond the window for any signs of movement.

The hours of the night passed quietly with nothing of note occurring during his watch. He saw a few prey animals that would be of interest to a crafter, deer and rabbits mostly, but nothing that was an actual threat. He checked the clock on his menu and noted it was only three hours until dawn and he was tired. With a nod he stood as quietly as he could and walked over to Inugami, gently shaking the younger man to rouse him while quietly saying, “Kid, your turn to take watch.”

Once he had the younger man roused he lay down on the third bed and was out like a light almost instantly. He hadn't even bothered to remove his equipment, though his sword lay next to the bed. It wouldn't be the most restful sleep, but the paranoia born of needed to defend yourself at a moments notice made staying equipped the more practical choice.

[Inugami]

"" ☒ @tagged ✐ 000 ✉ notes Inugami Lv1

Soma woke, not even realizing that he had falled asleep dispite, or because of, his effort to watch the one who took the first shift. He was drowsy as he moved to the chair, but quickly roused himself as he began to watch the scenery outside. Still dark, still quiet. And it stayed that way for hours. There had not been much that the forest would reveal, a shifting of leaves in the wind here or the sielnt flying of an owl twenty minutes later, so the mind of Inugami began to focus on other things to keep himself from falling asleep. The quiet breathing of the companions in the room timed his thoughts, and a gentle silent rapping of his fingertips upon the spear he let lean against him kept his body from becoming inactive. The sun peeked through the gaps in the trees as it rose above whatever counted as an equator in the game, illuminating the room slowly. Soma could track the light as the sharp edge descended from the roof upon them. It was in the second hour of the revealing of the sun that caused something different to occur. Out there, far from the cabin but close enough to hear clear as a crystal bell, a wolf cried. The high pitched howl felt like the damned had crawled back out of hell and he even saw his status change from fear to paralyzed for a second. After that he could not wait any longer, even if he wanted this friend and the other to sleep a bit more. Gently he shook them both awake, starting with Janeiro.

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS

[Janeiro]

Janeiro opened her eyes immediately as she was touched, staring the wolf that was about to eat her right into the bloodshot eye. But there was no wolf, only two very different men, and another, digitally born, in the next room. She breathed deeply for a few seconds. It was not the first time she wondered whether the game could affect her dreams, figuring it was definitely possible, but it did not seem likely. After sitting up and Cross slowly regaining consciousness as well, her mind finally became clear again. "I thought we were doing three shifts. I don't need a full night of sleep," she said while using the UI to change back into combat gear instantaneously. Actually, it helped her concentrate, and the lack of sleep was a major factor in the degeneration of her grades, but she hated getting special treatment, probably because she was a girl. Men were like that. Skoll had prepared a rather modest breakfast for them, which was not surprising, he lived alone and this was not an inn.

A bit later they were on their way. Even though the sun was up, shining through the leaves here and there, many plants were naturally of a dark green and brown. No wonder this was called the Black Forest. The whole morning a thought had pestered her, and it needed to get out. She took a moment to find the right words.
"If you are not sure you want to do this, it's okay, we'll cancel the quest altogether or see if we can pick it up later. It's always safer, yet slower, to kill boars. We are not smarter than people who choose to do that. To be honest I am a little scared of the wolf, but I still want to do it. I want to know your opinion on this." It would only show when they actually fought together, but both seemed capable of carrying their own weight and hopefully a bit more, just in case. She even slowly learned to accept Cross' behaviour. Manners were not important when fighting for your life.

[SouthernCross]

Cross' awakening wasn't nearly as drawn out as either of the younger players thought it was. He had always been a light sleeper, and sleeping in armour, even if just digital equipment, only made him sleep even lighter. In fact he had woken up the moment that Inugami had begun moving about and had even gripped his weapon by the time the boy shook him.

He rose slowly so as to allow the younger two to relax more, he knew just how intimidating his stature was and found slow, deliberate movements made people more comfortable. Once he was finally on his feet he stretched, it did nothing for his digital body but stretching had always benefited his mind, making it sharper in the early morning.

In answer to Janiero's question about the watch shifts he replied, “I'm the eldest, possibly the eldest of all the combatant players...” He scratched his beard and finished, “I guess I just feel like I'm responsible for making sure you get home in one piece.”

“As for the wolf...” He thought over his words, “What if a civilian-player wanders in and the wolf attacks? I've seen those fellas try to fight…” He shook his head, “It would be our fault. No, Fido needs to be put down.”

[Inugami]

"I had some things I wanted to think about and I slept well enough for the first half." Inugami answered as his excuse to why he ended up not waking Janeiro for her shift on watch. Not untrue in its own right, but his thoughts were his own and would not tell anyone what shifted through it.

Soma moved from sitting to leaning against one of the walls, his head leaning against a shelf that held a couple small pots that held herbs of some kind from the smell. His spear was still on hand, even granted that within the small confines of the building that it would be nearly useless. "You don't remember me that well do you?" He said to the one who brought question to his wish to contribute, even if the purpose was not for the quest or other people, but just to keep in touch with someone he knew for as long as possible. "I said I was going, and sure that howl I heard when both of you were asleep was terrifying, but you it's just a wolf. Maybe a harder than normal creature, but nothing that the beta testers had not come into contact with." Inugami's words were filled with false bravado, but speaking was something he was good at. As far as he could remember there was never any mention of this quest in the guide, so what was just spoken was for the other's benefit only.

[Janeiro]

Janeiro was a little relieved that the other two did not have second thoughts about this. It strengthened herself as well. And Cross was right, it was for the safety of others, too. Although the howl that Inugami had mentioned made her feel hunted, which was not a good feeling.

"My memory is not that bad. I remember you well. It's not like you were particularly unconspicuous, either," she said to Inugami. As they came near to their goal, the Black Forest became silent. In the area around the clearing there were no animals, no bird chirping or even insect buzzing around. The only sounds they heard were their own footsteps and the rustling of leaves in the consistent, cool breeze, colder than in other places on this floor. The group of three reached their destination. The grass on the clearing was around knee height (for the two Japanese), and in the middle stood a 3m tall stone, with only a few old runes carved into its surface, not in a script known on Earth. The strokes looked like tooth and claw markings and had been created with wrath and brutality rather than artistry.

[SouthernCross]

As the trio traveled there was really nothing for the giant of a man to add to the conversation. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling, most of his time spent with other people, prior to his career, had been as a spare wheel, part of the group but not the conversation. Thus he walked in silence, letting his mind drift to that place where all is it peace and completely calm.

Most would use that place to meditate and find their inner selves or tranquility or some such.

For Cross that place was his main battle mindset. With his mind completely calm his body would flow more quickly, strike harder and tire more slowly. He had mastered this state as a teenager and was now so familiar with it his mind could drift to unrelated topics during a fight.

Like right now; “Reminds me of the old Norse Runestones… if something used them as a scratching post.”

[Inugami]

Since they had set out, Inugami had been jubilant. Though he kept his mouth closed for the majority of their travel, it was obvious that despite the danger that persisted in the area around them that the young adult was in a good mood. It was when they finally came to the clearing that he felt it alright to speak again as the other male in the party did. However it took some time for him to think of what to say. "If the game made its own language, I wonder how hard it would be to learn." He said as he stepped just ahead of the others to take a closer look at the pillar of stone.

It was in his approach that a howl echoed through the trees, and in the silence that followed one could hear entire flocks of birds taking flight to flee the area. He began to worry that he had been the trigger of the fight, and quickly readied his arms. With his open senses Soma tried to use the detection skill to notice anything nearby, but nothing came up. If he was being hunted, would they even be able to sense something that was above their levels? He thought to himself. This cry had not had the paralyze effect that the one he had witnessed from within the cabin, but it also had sounded further away. Distances were impossible to judge by noise alone as even seconds after the beast's cry could still be hear faintly.

[Janeiro]

Janeiro agreed with Cross. The stone seemed Norse, so did the names Skoll and Hati. Everybody knew the cardinal system liked to draw inspiration from mythology. She had no idea how to decipher the characters on the stone though, and right now there were more urgent matters, as the howling that seemed to come from everywhere ripped through the silence. The party noticed an icon appearing over each of their health bars with a stylised wolf's head. Touching it spawned an informational pop-up.

Prey
This unit is being hunted by Dire Wolves. In a continually growing distance all Dire Wolves will prioritize units with this status effect as a target.
Time Remaining: 589 seconds

Thanks to their Detection skill, they could see a fine white circular line fleeing from them in all directions, almost reaching the edges of the clearing already. They could guess it was the distance in which they would pull the wolves' aggro. Then something else demanded their attention. The runes on the stone began to glow in a light blue, and then emitted an ethereal fog in the same colour, forming a wolf which stood almost 2m tall and then materialized completely, only his blue eyes staying hollow and transparent. He was old and full of scars, snarling and growling at the three.
Hati, Chaser of the Moon appeared over him.

"He sent another group... more meat... how foolish of you, but my pack will be thankful for the meal," the wolf spoke almost unintelligibly. He did not attack, but if they allowed the fight to take long, they would soon be surrounded by wolves which would take care of them. There couldn't be too many around since the whole area seemed to be devoid of creatures. If the distance of the status effect was increasing at the same rate for 10 minutes, they would be in lots of trouble nonetheless. Janeiro readied her weapon and charged towards their opponent.

[SouthernCross]

As the Prey status appeared on under his HP Bar Cross simply chuckled, “Really? Prey, huh? Well that's not so bad, not too different from living day to day back home.” He smirked, “The difference being those hunters where actually scary because you couldn't see them coming.”

He watched Hati form from a mist that emanated from the Runestone mostly passively aside from drawing his weapon casually. Idly he lamented not being a beast tamer; taming Hati and using him as a mount would have been epic and would have made him a legend overnight.

Oh well.

Instead Cross settled for two things; first he said to his companions, “My Sword Art is an AoE attack, as soon as the mook brigade show up I'll switch to dealing with them then attack Fido during my cool down. Sound good? Good.”

Secondly he zipped past Hati as fast as his agility skill, which was surprisingly the same as both his companions and thrust his sword at the Runestone instead of the giant wolf. It was nothing more then a hunch but the idea had occurred to Cross the moment Hati had appeared, maybe he was some kind of ghost or lich using the Runestone as an Anchor to the world.

[Inugami]

Great a talking, giant, probably going to eat them, wolf. Inugami was put off by the fact that the beast had said that there had been other groups. Was it truly the cause of the deaths of other players, or had that just been text flair added to scare them? Neither answer was comforting. Both of his party members were first to strike out against it, and had a funny thought. "We are the prey of the pack of our prey." Said Inugami, with a clever stupid smirk. He doubted anyone else would have heard him granted that they were so busy dealing with the Moon-Chaser.

"What are you aiming at?" Soma shouted at Cross as the younger started closing in on the giant wolf in front. While his reach was longer and could possibly hit the beast before Janeiro, the spearman flipped his spear to rest in the nook of his armpit, the entire spear glowing a pale yellow as he slid in to Hati's side. "Don't miss. Don't miss." He repeated to himself, looking for the first opportunity to plunge the iron tip of his Sword Art into the creatures hide.

[Janeiro]

'Just what the hell was Australia like?', Janeiro thought for a moment after Cross' comment, imagining a country full of muscular people constantly fighting the local wildlife. Although, there was an emu war, so maybe the picture was not even that far off. The information about his sword art was useful, too. She nodded towards the giant. "I'll leave it to you." When he hit the runes, the infamous violet Immortal Object hexagon popped up and sparks flew violently where metal kissed stone. Well, it had not been a bad idea. Better to know that now than have Hati regenerate because we only focused on the body.

Janeiro noticed Inugami's spear swiftly zooming past her and penetrating Hati's flank, making him yelp in pain. From the wound a wisp of yellow smoke rose into the air, meaning all allies would have a increased chance to land critical hits on the wolf. This was a good start, although Hati's HP gauge only dropped marginally. It was Janeiro's chance to use her own sword art, quickly sheathing her sword and then drawing it while simultaneously slashing upwards, leaving a golden glittering trail on its path through one of their foe's shoulders. He shook himself once and then quickly jumped over them with a mighty leap so that he wouldn't be surrounded by the players, apparently not affected by the effects her art Angel's Ascent could cause if she was lucky, then immediately pouncing on Janeiro with his jaws open wide and full of saliva, throwing the surprised girl to the ground roughly, paws weighing down her shoulders, and judging from his raging eyes, ready to bite her head off.
In the distance in quick succession two howls could be heard, answering the call of their pack leader.

Hati's HP: 85%
Prey Time Remaining: 566 seconds

[SouthernCross]

The plan working was about 50/50 really and eliminating possibilities just meant fewer things to go wrong later. The Runestone being an immortal object just meant this would be a straight up boss and mook battle. He glanced at the runes themselves and failed to surprise himself, he still knew the global average for Norse Runes.

Diddly and Squat.

Still, there where three things the giant wolf couldn't account for. The first two where directly linked, boredom and the internet. If a person is one and has access to the other strange things tend to occur… like Wiki crawls.

“HEY! HRODVITNIRSSON! IT'S IMPOLITE TO DROOL OVER A LADY!” He roared as he brought the third thing to bier on the giant wolf, human unpredictability. With a mighty lunge Cross charged forward and thrust his six foot blade straight up Hati's rear end.

[Inugami]

Soma's careful eyes watched the smoking yellow target, that bonus weak point that allowed him to support his allies. However when Hati had Janeiro pinned, the young adult's eyes saw only red. Anger flooded his blood and he could feel the temperature rise in his face. "Get away from her you damn mutt!" He shouted as he danced around to attack the front of the beast. Aiming for the Moon-Chasers eyes, Soma tried to plunge the iron point into the cornea of the wolf. Either in pain or knowing, Hati moved its face just enough that it glanced into and off of the lower jaw.

Hati scampered off to put its back up against the marred stone, staring down whichever one it saw as the greater threat. "Be glad you won't have to clean the blade old man!" Inugami yelled over as he held a hand out towards his fallen ally. "Now don't think that this is because you are a lady. You will always be little Rio-chan to me anyways. I do still expect you to pull your weight for dragging me here." He said with a smile and wink. Even he found it strange how he was not in a panic here, with eminent death literally snapping its jaws at them.